Request By:
Mr. Stan Kahrs
5225 Bell Drive
Independence, Kentucky 41051
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Walter C. Herdman, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of January 14 in which you relate that a member of the city council of the city of Independence, elected at the past November election, did not execute the oath of office on or before the first Monday in January as required by law. However, the person in question apparently did execute the oath shortly thereafter when she returned from a Florida vacation. Under the circumstances, you raise the question as to whether or not she is entitled to serve as a member of the city council.
Our response to your question would be in the affirmative. It is true that KRS 62.010 (2) provides that each person elected to an office shall take the oath of office on or before the day the term of office to which he has been elected begins. However, the courts have held that a person may execute the oath within a reasonable time after said date and still be qualified to serve. In this respect, we refer you to the case of Lewin v. Ft. Mitchell, 148 Ky. 816, 147 S.W. 922 (1912).
Assuming therefore that the person in question executed the oath within a reasonable time following the first Monday in January, 1978, she is legally qualified to serve on the city council.